European Parliament votes to include international air transport in emissions trading system

On 8 July 2008 the European Parliament voted 640 to 30 in favour of including international civil aviation within the European Union's Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) confirming the agreement reached between the Parliament and the Council in June (see previous post). A press release from the Parliament outlines what was decided and the text as adopted is now available on the European Parliament's web site.

A press release from the European Commission welcomed the second reading vote. Reactions from IATA, the Association of European Airlines (AEA), the European Low Fares Airline Association (ELFAA) and, more colourfully, from Ryanair were less positive to put it mildly. Of more interest will be the reaction of the United States government, given that it has questioned the legality of aspects of what is proposed.